This is a blog that Andy has written to describe his battle with cystic fibrosis. Andy is 40 years old and is married to his beautiful bride Andrea and has two miracle children, Avery and Ethan. Andy appreciates each day and hopes to show the doubters that in his world CF stands for Can Fight!

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Lovin' the Show Me State

I had a terrific time speaking at CF Center Education Day in Missouri. I was the keynote speaker at the University of Missouri in Columbia (A place my Dawgs will be visiting in September for Missouri's first SEC home game).

The people were so nice. Special thanks to Erin (picture attached), Kecia, Natalie and Dr. Acton (picture attached). There were many more wonderful people. I spoke for an hour to a few hundred people (including several people with CF) about my life with CF and tried to inspire the group. I wore a mask while I spoke to promote safety and I was happy that all of the patients also wore their masks. Per Kecia, it was the best CF Day they've had since she's been there and many people were repeating things I said from my speech. I'm happy that my speech made a positive impact on people.

The funny part was they heard about fondness for gummy bears during my speech so attached was my award after speaking.

I made several contacts while I was there and I think I might have some more speeches coming up after Virginia and Ireland over the next few months.

Today I completed Day 53 of P90X. I can't believe that I only have 37 days to go. I recently saw that they have come up with P90X 2 or something like that. I'm not even thinking about that right now. I will say I feel really strong. I ran for 17 minutes on the treadmill, 15 minutes in place before that and did my hour of P90X all this morning and YES I still plan to do a light workout at lunch. If I'm going to preach about working hard in the gym when I give speeches, then it is up to me to practice what I preach.

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About Me

I have cystic fibrosis. I have a beautiful wife and 2 great kids that my wife and I had through IVF since CF caused me to be infertile. I just finished my new book which will be in bookstores next year. I'm also a motivational speaker and fundraiser. I have spoken all over the U.S. and recently spoke in Wexford, Ireland. My event, A Wish for Wendy, has raised over $1.25 million in 12 years. I ran with the Olympic Torch in 2001. I speak to several groups about cystic fibrosis as well as my bouts with depression. I became the first board member of the Georgia CF Foundation to have cystic fibrosis. My dad and I started the Wish for Wendy Foundation in memory of my sister Wendy who passed away from CF. While CF has brought a lot of pain to my life, I feel very fortunate for the people I have in my life. I have written 3 books already. The Drive at 35 is my third book and hopefully the best. This memoir talks about my issues with CF, depression and many other items. The book has forewords from Garth Brooks and Celibe Dion. If anyone is interested in my book, please e-mail me at andy@andylipman.com.